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A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Change and dynamics in Mediterranean evergreen oak woodlands landscapes of Southwestern Iberian Peninsula
Highlights ► Change in Mediterranean evergreen oak woodlands landscapes were studied in three different areas. ► A common trend of oak forest loss was found in all study areas despite specific land-use transitions. ► Particular biophysical and socioeconomic conditions of each area explain such specificities. ► New oak woodlands landscapes raise different conservation and restoration issues. ► Conservation strategies need to address livestock pressure and management abandonment issues.
Abstract Landscapes with open evergreen oak woodlands in Southwestern Iberian Peninsula have been subjected to a consistent oak forest loss. In these landscapes, the abandonment of traditional land management activities have been associated with major land use transformations, such as the replacement of agricultural land uses and native oak woodlands by both shrublands and fast-growing Eucalyptus and pine (Pinus pinea L.) plantations. In this study a spatially explicit approach, combining aerial photographs, geographical information systems and land cover metrics, was used to assess long-term landscape dynamics over a 50-year period. The aim was to provide interpreted quantitative information on the landscape dynamics and to determine the key roles of open farmland, shrubland and new forest plantations on the ongoing loss and fragmentation of oak woodlands. Different trends of land abandonment and intensification of land uses were found across the study areas mainly related to combination of particular socioeconomic and biophysical conditions, resulting in different types of evergreen oak forest conservation and restoration issues. A comprehensive assessment of these (biophysical and socioeconomic) change driving forces is, therefore, presented and discussed, as a baseline for future planning by setting of appropriate management, restoration and conservation strategies for oak woodlands in the studied landscapes. Although this study focused on a specific system of Southwestern Mediterranean, the methodology applied herein can be extrapolated to other comparable human-driven scattered tree systems, within cultural landscapes.
Change and dynamics in Mediterranean evergreen oak woodlands landscapes of Southwestern Iberian Peninsula
Highlights ► Change in Mediterranean evergreen oak woodlands landscapes were studied in three different areas. ► A common trend of oak forest loss was found in all study areas despite specific land-use transitions. ► Particular biophysical and socioeconomic conditions of each area explain such specificities. ► New oak woodlands landscapes raise different conservation and restoration issues. ► Conservation strategies need to address livestock pressure and management abandonment issues.
Abstract Landscapes with open evergreen oak woodlands in Southwestern Iberian Peninsula have been subjected to a consistent oak forest loss. In these landscapes, the abandonment of traditional land management activities have been associated with major land use transformations, such as the replacement of agricultural land uses and native oak woodlands by both shrublands and fast-growing Eucalyptus and pine (Pinus pinea L.) plantations. In this study a spatially explicit approach, combining aerial photographs, geographical information systems and land cover metrics, was used to assess long-term landscape dynamics over a 50-year period. The aim was to provide interpreted quantitative information on the landscape dynamics and to determine the key roles of open farmland, shrubland and new forest plantations on the ongoing loss and fragmentation of oak woodlands. Different trends of land abandonment and intensification of land uses were found across the study areas mainly related to combination of particular socioeconomic and biophysical conditions, resulting in different types of evergreen oak forest conservation and restoration issues. A comprehensive assessment of these (biophysical and socioeconomic) change driving forces is, therefore, presented and discussed, as a baseline for future planning by setting of appropriate management, restoration and conservation strategies for oak woodlands in the studied landscapes. Although this study focused on a specific system of Southwestern Mediterranean, the methodology applied herein can be extrapolated to other comparable human-driven scattered tree systems, within cultural landscapes.
Change and dynamics in Mediterranean evergreen oak woodlands landscapes of Southwestern Iberian Peninsula
Costa, Augusta (author) / Madeira, Manuel (author) / Lima Santos, José (author) / Oliveira, Ângelo (author)
Landscape and Urban Planning ; 102 ; 164-176
2011-04-13
13 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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